brooks



'(No Model.)

E. J. BROOKS. SEAL.

mmlllll vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. J. BROOKS & COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,676, dated August 14, 1894.

Application filed May 14,1894. stanno. 511,187. on man To all whom t may concern:

.Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements on the buttonseals set forth in expired patent, No. 174,797, granted March 14, 1876, to Alphonse Friedrick, and on. the metallic seal of Joseph Wappenstein set forth in expired patent, N o. 87,017, granted February 16, 1869.

The present invention consists in an improved seal adapted to be used in the same manner as said button-seals, and like said Wappenstein seal composed of lead, wire, and sheet-metal, with the latter in the form ,of a cut-proof shell; except that such shell of the improved seal is preferably not annular, and all the parts of the improved seal are adapted to be preliminarily united at the factory; whereas in said Wappenstein seal the parts of each seal must be carried separately, and can only be united asa whole after the shackle has been threaded through the 'car-door staples, or their equivalent, in the final act of applying or using the seal.

Other improved seals of the general description above stated are-set forth in my previous specifications forming part of United States LettersPatentdated June 5, 1894, Nos. 521,134, 521,135, and 521,136.

The present seal is distinguished by a wire shackle having a volute coil within a hollow lead part, whereby such lead part is so supported during the pressing operation as to insure perfect impressions in the seal-press, and the other end of the shackle is rendered more secure against being tampered with than heietofore by interlocking with said volute co1 A sheet of drawings accompanies this specication as part thereof.

Figure 1 of the drawings represents two elevations of the flexible wire-shackle of the improved seal; Fig.A 2 sectional and face views of its lead part; Fig. 3 sectional and face views of its sheet-metal part; Fig. 4 a sectional view showing the parts as preliminarily united at the factory; Fig. 5 a sectional view of the improved seal as press-fastened; and Figs. 6 and 7 the obverse and reverse of the pressed seal-disk.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

Each improved seal is composed of a flexible wire-shackle A preliminarily formed as in-Fig. 1, a hollow lead-part B preliminarily formed as in Fig. 2, and a sheet-metal part C preliminarily formed as in Fig. 3; which are permanently united at the factory as illustrated by Fig. 4, and are combined in the pressed seal as illustrated by Figs. 5 to 7. Said shackle A has a volute coil 1 at one of its ends, and its other or free end, 2, is straight in the shackle as originally formed; the shackle being cut of a proper length from plain wire of suitable gage as it cornes from the wire-mill, and provided with its volute coil 1 by a mechanical bending operation. The seal-part B may be formed either by casting or by pressing, and is originally a hollow cone with a button-head 3 and a neck 4 at the apex of its conical cavity 5. The sheet-metal part C, hereinafter termed the shell of the seal, is conveniently stamped by means of a pair of dies, and is composed of a disk 6 conveniently and preferably lettered or providedwith suitable permanent distinguishing marks, as indicated in the drawings, and a marginal rim 7 originally cylindrical or substantially cylindrical, and provided with a single threading-hole 8 fitted to the wire of which the shackle A is formed.

The free end 2 of the shackle A is threaded through the hole 8 of the shell C, from inside the rim outward; and in continuation of the Same act the shell is placed rim upward on an anvil-plate, with said volute coil base downward within the shell. The lead-part B is then introduced with the button 3 upward,

and the parts are fed beneath a hollow punch which ,turns down the rim 7 of the shell C to a sufiicient extent to permanently retain the lead-part. This completes the improved seal as in Fig. 4; the volute coil 1 retaining its form within the cavity 5 of the hollow leadpart as in this gure. Aft-er threading the free end 2 of the shackle through a pair of sealing lugs D or their equivalent, said free end is wrapped one or more times around the IOO may of course be otherwise of any approved description. At the same time the loop of said free end of the shackle becomes With reasonable certainty interlocked in every case with one of the convolutions of the coil l, as in Fig. 5, so as to prevent liberating saidfree end Without such mutilation of the leaden face of the seal as to insure detection. The obverse of the seal-disk, represented by Fig. 6, bears the embossed lettering or permanent distinguishing marks O with which the disk 6 of the shell C vis originally provided; and the shell as a Whole does not require to be pressed after the seal leaves the factory; which renders the seal easily and quickly press-fastened.

'The neck 4. may in practice jb'e" provided with'a threadingV hole 'as' set forthin said Friedrick patent, No. 174,797; the shapes and proportions of the several parts may be considerably variedl Without materially aecting the structure of the improved seal; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described the said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specitlcation- An improved seal composed of a wire-shackle having a volute coil at one end, a hollow lead-part having a. cavity which receives said coil, and a sheet-metal shell having a marginal rim which overlaps the marginal edge of said lead-part and preliminarilyu-nites allthe parts of the seal, substantially as' hereinbefore specified. v

EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

J As. L. EWIN, GEO. M. WHITNEY. 

